10-foot tree taken from yard

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By Andy Barrand

Hillsdale.net - Hillsdale, MI

By Andy Barrand

Posted Dec. 13, 2012 at 9:30 AM

By Andy Barrand

Posted Dec. 13, 2012 at 9:30 AM

Hillsdale, Mich.

andy.barrand@hillsdale.net

HILLSDALE — Hillsdale resident Patty Blair has a love for Colorado Blue Spruce trees, a love which caused her to plant 12 of them in her yard some 10 years ago. With the help of her late husband Denver Blair Sr., Patty nurtured the trees from saplings, planting them on the north side of their property. Patty said Denver wasn’t much for planting trees. “He only did it when I wanted him to. I had to put them somewhere, where he wouldn’t mow over them," Blair said, recalling a time when she planted two saplings in the backyard that Denver mowed over one year. Today, the saplings the Blairs planted stand nearly 10 feet tall — and one of them is glaringly absent.

To Blair’s dismay, someone cut down one of her Colorado Blue Spruce trees from the side yard of her house, which sits along North Lake Wilson Road. She said she realized the tree was missing after going to the mailbox earlier this week. “I thought it might of just fallen over with the soft ground,” Blair said. That wasn’t the case, though. Someone had cut the tree off a foot from the ground with a chainsaw. Blair believes someone cut the tree down after dark and dragged it back to their car, which she assumes was parked along Developmental Road. Branches from the tree still lie along that path. Blair said there is nothing to stop people from cutting the trees, but she never thought someone would come into her yard to cut one. “I sure hope they don’t come and cut anymore of them,” Blair said. She estimated a Blue Spruce the size of the one taken from her property would cost around $300. After reporting the tree stolen, Blair learned there was nothing she could do to recoup the cost. She wasn’t looking for any retribution, she said — she just wanted to make people aware that it had happened. The tree has more of a sentimental value to her than monetary. Blair said she may make a wreath out of the remaining branches from the tree.